[walleeee]

Well-respected American leaders thought it wise and worthwhile to maintain backchannels with the USSR throughout the cold war. Presumably, then, the Soviets were a lesser threat, materially and ideologically, to the American project than Russia is today? Is that correct?

[bigodbiel]

Amazingly the USSR was more reliable than Putin's russia, whatever that is today.

[dlahoda]

did ussr had agreement with usa and 3rd country not to attack that 3rd country?

ua(that 3rd country), us and ru had that.

[dlahoda]

imagine usa attacked ua with its whole mil power, except nukes.

how many days would ua stand with all weapons provided by ru agains us?

in reverse, with limited weapon support, ua still here after 3 years.

may it indicate that ru is weaker of ussr and what applied to ussr does not apply to ru.